Canada · already owed to you
Uncashed CRA cheques
More than a billion dollars sits in Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) cheques that were issued and never cashed. This is the simplest kind of money to recover, because nothing has to be argued: the CRA already decided it was owed and already tried to pay it. The entitlement does not lapse, even when the cheque itself is long past being bankable.
The payment is never forfeited. There is no deadline after which the CRA keeps money it assessed as owed to you — an amount from a decade ago is still yours. The cheque itself may no longer be bankable after that long, which is why the CRA reissues it rather than expecting you to deposit the original.
How to check
Uncashed cheque information appears in CRA My Account. That is the place to look, and realistically the only one — it reflects what the CRA actually issued to you, rather than what you remember arriving. If you do not have My Account set up, registering is the first step; there is no way to check without access to the account.
If something is there, the CRA can reissue it. If you would rather ask a person than work through the account, use the contact details on the CRA's own contact page — we deliberately do not reproduce phone numbers here, because a wrong number for a tax agency is worse than no number, and these change.
Why so many go uncashed
None of the reasons are exotic. People move and the address on file is never updated. Names change. A benefit somebody did not know they qualified for is issued automatically. A refund arrives long after that tax year stopped being on anyone's mind. An estate is settled and nobody thinks to check.
The common thread is that the CRA did everything right and the payment simply did not reach a person who was owed it. Setting up direct deposit is what stops the problem recurring — a deposit cannot go uncashed.
This is not the same as a missed credit
Worth separating, because the two get conflated. An uncashed cheque is money already assessed as owed — nothing needs reassessing, it needs reissuing. A missed credit was never assessed at all, which means changing the return, and that runs on the ten-year individual adjustment window with all the conditions that carries.
Check the cheques first. It is faster, and it costs nothing to find out.
Questions
Do CRA cheques expire?
The money does not. There is no deadline after which the CRA simply keeps an amount it assessed as owed to you — the entitlement stays. The cheque itself is a different matter: after enough time a bank may not accept it, which is why the CRA reissues rather than expecting you to deposit an old one. So “it has not expired” is true of the payment, not necessarily of the piece of paper.
How do I check for uncashed CRA cheques?
Through CRA My Account, which shows uncashed cheque information for your own account. That is the authoritative place to look, because it reflects what the CRA has actually issued to you rather than what you remember receiving. If you do not have My Account set up, registering is the first step. There is no self-serve way to check without either signing in yourself or having someone with legal authority to act for you — a legal representative for an estate, for example.
Why would the CRA have sent me a cheque I never got?
The most common reasons are ordinary life events. You moved and the address on file was never updated. You changed your name. A benefit you did not know you qualified for was issued automatically. A refund arrived after you had stopped thinking about that tax year. Direct deposit avoids most of this, definitionally — a payment made by direct deposit cannot become an uncashed cheque.
Can I claim an uncashed cheque for someone who has died?
It can be done, but not through the ordinary process — the legal representative of the estate handles it, and the CRA will need proof of that authority before discussing or reissuing anything. If you are settling an estate, uncashed cheques are worth checking explicitly, because they are easy to miss and nobody is prompted to look.
Is an uncashed cheque the same as a missed tax credit?
No, and the difference matters. An uncashed cheque is money the CRA already agreed you were owed and already tried to pay — nothing needs to be reassessed, it just needs to be reissued. A missed credit is money that was never assessed at all, which requires changing the return. Uncashed cheques are the simpler of the two to resolve, so they are worth checking first.
How much money is sitting in uncashed CRA cheques?
The CRA has reported well over a billion dollars across millions of uncashed cheques. The figure moves as cheques are claimed and new ones go uncashed, so treat any specific number you see as a snapshot rather than a current balance — and check your own account rather than reasoning from the total.
Cheques are the easy half
The harder half is what was never assessed in the first place. We check every year you can still reach for credits and deductions that were missed, with the CRA rule behind each one.
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Sources
- CRA — My Account for Individuals — where uncashed cheque information appears for your own account
- CRA — Contact the Canada Revenue Agency — current phone numbers and hours — check here rather than relying on a number quoted elsewhere
- CRA — Direct deposit — how to stop future payments becoming uncashed cheques
Related: benefits a past-return review surfaces · commonly missed Canadian tax credits